Cutbacks Seen In Scholarship Programs

The
Highlands Today of Tampa, Florida reports that scholarship money is down due
to the slow economy. The South Florida Community College Foundation will
award less than the over $500,000 awarded last year. Foundation Executive
Director Donald Appelquist says that gifts are down, so scholarships will
suffer, even though SFCCF spends about 85 percent of its earnings on
scholarships. "The total amount of gifts that we have received in the last six
or seven months has in fact been impacted by the economic situation," Appelquist
said. "People are simply not as able as they were in the past to make charitable
contributions." It could be worse, but the Foundation has an investment
policy that shielded it from the worst effects of the recession. "I think our
otherwise conservative investment policy saved us from losing even more money
than we might," All is not lost, however, as guidance counselor
Jennifer Langston reports that no Tampa Area local organizations have cancelled
their scholarships, and there are even a few new memorial grants.

The Arizona Republic reports that one of the most widely given merit awards in
Arizona - the AIMS scholarships - could be cut in half and limited to
high-school students who score the highest on the standardized AIMS test.
Cuts are being considered as the three Arizona state universities try to cope
with budget cuts brought on by the state's fiscal crisis. Eligibility
could be cut by up to 65 per cent, but any student who already has the
scholarship would be grandfathered in and safeguarded from any changes.

Tom Horne, state superintendent of public instruction, opposes any changes. "The
universities would lose because those students who do study hard end up being
much better prepared for the universities," he said in an interview with the Republic. Horne is also a
regent, and some regents are concerned that making an AIMS award into a partial
grant will make it impossible for students to attend university.

In Atlanta, the HOPE scholarship is in jeopardy. The
Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that HOPE is facing shortfalls because
lottery revenue is down. State officials are planning to impose a 50
percent cut in book allowances. Automatic increases in grants to cover
tuition at public colleges will probably have to end, and now the state
legislature is examining whether the HOPE program has caused tuition to increase
abnormally at Georgia's research universities.

Redandblack.com also reports on this story, observing that tuition cannot go
up while money flowing into the HOPE reserves fund goes down. "Right now we are
dealing with tuition increases and the monies that are going into the HOPE
reserves fund from the lottery," said Monet Robinson, communications specialist
for the Georgia Student Finance Commission, in a phone interview Monday.
"Eventually those lines are going to cross and so the legislature has passed [a
House bill]."